In computer networks, name resolution refers to when users access resources using domain names or hostnames of those resources. Name resolution services translate the hostnames into a machine-readable address, referred to as an Internet Protocol (IP) address. This conversion or translation between a human readable name and the machine-readable address is governed by configuration settings that are applicable to an entire machine (all users and applications processing on those machines). This process includes Domain Name System (DNS) configuration settings and host files, which generally has static mappings of machine names to their corresponding IP addresses. Again, these configurations apply to the entire system.
A variety of problems arise with this traditional processing.
For example, with Virtual Private Networks (VPN's) a user accesses a resource and that resource is resolved via a name resolution configuration that applies to the VPN, which the user is connected to. At the same time, users may want to access resources outside the VPN using their domain names for those resources. Naming conflicts often arise in this situation because the two different resources are using different naming resolution services that are not compatible.
As another example, name resolution generally has to be done via network that the user is connected to. Sometimes the user may be using a wired network and other times the user may be using a wireless network. Typically, a user can use Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DCHP), which permits the name resolution settings to be pushed dynamically and automatically. However, if the network uses a static IP address, then the user is forced to manually edit the needed name resolution settings. This is cumbersome if the user switches from one network to another frequently.
In yet another case, when a developer is using a software test environment a particular resource may need to use a name resolution configuration for that resource that is different from the one that the machine is configured to provide. For example, in a proxy server development environment, in order to have a proxy client in the same machine, the proxy client should use configuration settings that are different from the one used by the proxy server on the same machine. This also cannot be done or not done easily.
Also, name resolution is generally performed based on the geographic location of the user so that the nearest name resolution server is used.
Usually, a user has to have administrator access rights to change the name resolution configuration settings manually.
Therefore, what is needed is an improved technique for name resolution and configuration.